The health of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset al Megrahi deteriorated sharply on Wednesday night, prompting family members to express concern over his condition as he received treatment in the VIP wing of a Tripoli hospital.

By Damien McElroy in Tripoli

6:10PM BST 02 Sep 2009

Megrahi has been under heavy guard in an intensive care unit of the Tripoli Medical Centre for the past week.

Officials on Wednesday conceded that he was unable to speak for large periods as he received oxygen and heavy doses of medication under constant medical supervision.

"He has been admitted to the emergency room in the hospital," a Libyan official said. "He is in a bad way. He is unable to speak to anyone."

One report said that the prostate cancer that was diagnosed to have entered its late stages in prison near Glasgow had spread.

Megrahi served eight years of a life sentence for the murder of 270 people on Pan Am Flight 103, which blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.

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The attack was attributed to Libya and fragments of Megrahi's clothing were found in suitcase that housed the device.

But Foreign Office officials expressed frustration that his incarceration was hampering efforts to bolster diplomatic and trade ties with the oil rich state.

Libyan officials reacted angrily, however, to suggestions that the health of Megrahi should provoke controversy.

Officials had vowed to secure his release even as they handed the former intelligence official over to the Scottish court based at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.

It was a matter of national pride for the regime to reverse the key concession, which saw international sanctions start to ease against the North African state for its deep involvement in international terrorism.

Libya displayed a picture of Megrahi's return in broadcasts of the regime's achievements during lavish celebrations this week.

An official close to Col Muammar Gaddafi on Wednesday said that Megrahi was a sick man who should be left alone.

"His state of health is a matter for the family and it is up to them how they cope," he said. "It was a matter of state that we secure his release and we have done so. Libya is proud."

Megrahi is a popular figure in Libya where he is seen as a loyal official who was punished for carrying out his state-sanctioned duties. "He is very popular here," said Abdul Karim, an official at a Tripoli medical centre.

"If he had died abroad people would have been very upset. It would have been a calamity for Britain." The family concern was so grave one official close to the Megrahi household said relatives had cancelled the evening meal at their opulent compound in Tripoli. The Muslim world is observing the holy month of Ramadan when the evening Iftar meal breaks the daylight fast.

It is a matter of pride for respectable families that the meal is held in the garden of the main home and hospitality is offered to associates and the less fortunate.

Although government officials have given assurances they will not intervene the family's role as Megrahi's gatekeepers, security officials have thrown up a heavy cordon around the former prisoner. Armed plain clothes agents are working closely with Megrahi's sons.

Libyan celebrations at Megrahi's homecoming sparked fury in Whitehall and the ensuing row inflamed the former pariah state's diplomatic sensitivities.